MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

9/28 Perks of the job

The Cubs are 20-11 under Mike Quade with six games remaining, including Tuesday vs. the Padres. The team has seemed energized and is playing well. What else does Quade have to do to get the manager job for next year?

“Just my job for the next week and that’s the God’s honest truth,” Quade said. “I’m dying to play well these next three days and then go to Houston and play well and take a breather for a week or so and see what happens this winter. The season’s not over until it’s over. It’s not over for the players, whether you’re playing for a pennant or doing what we’re doing. We have to make sure none of us quit, none of us get too comfortable. I’ve said all along, I’m motivated by fear of failure and we’ll just keep grinding right on through Sunday.”

Is it nerve-wracking?

“It’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” Quade said. “Whether I’m sitting in this seat or coaching third or anything else, I’d like to think the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t until late November. We know it’s not.”

He is enjoying the perks of being a big league manager, such as a suite at the team hotel.

“That is one of the perks,” Quade said. “To be honest with you, I was like, ‘Just give me a room.’ I had a friend of mine who called and said, ‘Don’t be an idiot. You spent a lot of years doing what you’re doing and this is what they’re doing and take advantage of it.’ That’s all it took. Yeah, it’s nicer. I should probably invite all you guys because the thing is so [darn] big. You get lost in there. There are some perks that are obviously different from when I was coaching third base.”

When players are called up to the big leagues, they talk about how the balls are whiter and clean and the clubhouse spread is better. It’s the same for managers.

“We used to complain about riding 12 hours or 14 hours from Jacksonville to Memphis [on a bus],” he said. “I’ll be darned if I’ll complain about anything up here.”

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